300 communists flee Indian jail

[The Author]

300 flee Indian jail in mass breakout: police

Sun Dec 16, 2:58 PM ET

Nearly 300 communist rebel supporters escaped from an understaffed jail in eastern India in a dramatic mass breakout on Sunday, police said.

Some 299 prisoners fled the jail in Chhattisgarh, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency, after overpowering their guards during a meal.

"It was a premeditated conspiracy," local police official Rahul Sharma told AFP by telephone from Dantewada town.

More than half of the jail's 377 inmates escaped, Sharma said, describing many of the fugitives as sympathisers of the Maoist rebels.

"The jail is housing all Naxal supporters," said Sharma, referring to the rebels as they are known locally, but added that there were "no hardcore Maoists" in the prison.

Earlier Sharma told the NDTV news channel that the prisoners had overpowered the six guards on duty and seized their weapons before fleeing under cover of gunfire.

Three people were injured in the breakout, Sharma told AFP, including two guards and a prisoner. Earlier NDTV reported five people were injured.

The police official said police reinforcements had reached the jail on the outskirts of Dantewada town, south of the state capital Raipur, and were searching for the escapees.

Sharma called for more security at the jail, saying it was in a high-risk area.

"Ideally it should be a maximum security jail," he said. "There's a resource crunch everywhere in the district."

The prison had a third as many guards on its staff as it needed, he added, saying the jail required at least 120 security personnel.

In a similar incident two years ago, Maoist rebels sprung some 200 people free from a prison in eastern Bihar state during assembly polls there after exchanging gunfire with police for two hours.

The Maoist insurgency, which grew out of a peasant uprising in eastern India in 1967, threatens huge swathes of India's centre, east and south and has spread to half of India's 29 states.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described it as the single biggest threat to India's internal security.

The Maoists say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribal people and landless farmers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071216/wl_asia_afp/indiaunrest

This is awesome news. Great to hear 300 comrades escape from the prisons of the Indian bourgeois dictatorship, to help strengthen the ranks of the revolutionary forces.

[Dros]

Yeah. The Naxalites are still fighting!

[Herman]

Are they burly communists?

But seriously, it's good to hear that communists have escaped prison.

Honestly, I don't know much of the Naxalites or the Indian communist movement, so...

[spartan]

Are the Naxalites Maoists?

Anyway nice to hear that they are now free and hopefully they can now continue their fight against Capitalist India.

Also does anyone know how the Maoist rebels in Nepal are doing?

[Lenin II]

I was just thinking about this the other day. I was very pleased when i heard the news. India is one of the countries that needs revolutionary activity right now, as it is still caught up in the semi-feudal version of capitalism. With its large and densely plotted population, India is a vital revolutionary force.

[Dros]

Are the Naxalites Maoists?

Yes. There are over 40 Naxalite Maoist rebel groups in India. The most important is the CPI(Maoist).


Also does anyone know how the Maoist rebels in Nepal are doing?

Yeah. They ended the People's War. They still control most of the countryside but they are disarming and entering into a bourgois coalition government. They hope to win a majority of seats in the election of a Constituent Assembly. The election, supposed to be held in December but deadlocked by CPN(M)'s demands will be held definitely in mid April 2008.

[Ramachandra]

Can anyone please describe wht's happening in western Bengal?Are their true Communists or revisionists?(The two left parties in the state government).Naxalites are against them.are they?

[Sam_b]

These are the Maoists who use terrorist tactics to achieve their means; something condemned by Trotsky wasn't it?

Recently these guys (if I am getting my right Indian Maoist group here) blew up a train killing workers. If these are them, fuck em'.

[Red Heretic]

Now the Maoists have taken over another prison!


India: Maoist inmates take over Beur Jail in Patna
Posted by: "jharkhand_zindabad" [email protected] jharkhand_zindabad
Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:03 am (PST)

Maoist inmates take over Beur Jail in Patna

Patna: More than two hundred Maoist inmates of high security Aadarsh
Kara, Beur (Beur jail) took over a large part of the jail today. The
Maoists attacked security guards on duty and ransacked a portion of the
jail and even assaulted some inmates.

The Maoists have been staging a protest inside the jail premises and
shouting slogans against the government. Interestingly, Maoist inmates
have the support of hundreds of other inmates.

According to jail officials, about 2,400 inmates are lodged in Beur
jail, more than double the capacity of the jail. After Maoists look over
a large part of the jail inside, police officials on duty inside fled
fearing for their lives.

After news spread of Maoists capturing a large part of the jail, top
police officials of the Patna district rushed to the scene. A large
numbers of police personnel have been deployed outside the jail.

All jails in the state were put on high alert on Monday, a day after a
Maoist jailbreak in Chhattisgarh' s Dantewada district.

[spartan]

These Maoist prisoners escape and occupation of prisons incidents look like a coordinated attack on the Maoists part.

[NaxalbariZindabad]

Other news posted on Maoist Revolution list * :

India: Protests and Hunger Strikes rock the Jails

PATNA, Dec. 19th: Bihar lives in constant fear of Maoists. They maintained a low profile for a while, but have stepped up their activities, strengthening their networks and making the state dance to their tune.

Four bandhs ("shutdowns" ) over the past 60 days, display of their power of "agitation" in several jails, including the high-security Beur jail, and the recent recovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunition explain how Maoists are mobilising. The police are helpless!

Almost all the Bihar jails seem to be sitting ducks. A report says the fire of Maoists' anger has spread as hundreds of Maoists lodged in heavily crowded Gaya and Jehanabad jails have also gone on strike.

Sources said more than 300 inmates of the 775 prisoners lodged in Jehanabad jail are on strike for the last 48 hours.

The reactionaries are recalling the November, 2005 Jehanabad jailbreak in which the Maoists freed their top leaders, including Ajay Kanu.

There are also reports of Maoists lodged in Gaya and Bhagalpur central jails going on hunger strike yesterday, to show their solidarity with the leaders who took control of Beur jail for more than six hours yesterday. Both the jails are overcrowded.

In the evenings Maoists attack prisons or police stations. The way they took over Beur jail has sent a message that jails in Bihar are unsafe and may be raided anytime.

Maoists have given bandh calls over several issues, including the arrest of their top leaders, killing of Nandigram villagers and award of death sentence to five of their comrades by a local court. Police have been outwitted by the growing strength of Maoists who dared to stay in rented houses in Patna and operated from under the nose of the administration for a long time.

-----------

Communist Party of India (Maoist) hails Dantewada jail-break

Dec.19th: Formally accepting their support and role in facilitating the recent escape of 303 Comrades at the Dantewada Jail, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has hailed the incident as a huge moral victory for all revolutionaries in India and the World over.

Appreciating the daring act at the Dantewada Jail, the Bihar-Jharkhand- North Chatisgarh Special Area Committee and the Special Areas Military Commission, has hoped the incident would further mobilise more masses.

"Bihar-Jharkhand Uttari Chattisgarh Special Area Committee, welcomes you all back with a big salute for your courage on behalf of Special Area Military Commission under Regional Committee, Commission and zonal committees and commands and other associated groups. It is hoped and appealed to the people's gladiators, still lodged in jails, that they would take inspiration from your act of bravery as showcased recently by you," stated Rakesh, Secretary in a media release.

"By freeing yourself and other fellows from the confines of jails without any outside help (except moral support), you have created a history. It has taken our Red Flag's popularity to another level of fame and respect. You now stand as ideals amongst all revolutionaries and a big source of energy for others," Rakesh added.

On Sunday (December 16th), Maoists had attacked a jail in Dantewada and freed 303 Comrades of which 40 were Maoist leaders. The also took away over a dozen guns and huge cache of ammunitions.

There were 377 Comrades in the jail at the time of the break-in.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is conducting 'People's War', a strategical line developed by Mao Zedong during the phase of guerrilla warfare of the Communist Party of China.

It has effective control over some regions of Jharkhand and Andrah Pradesh as well as presence in Bihar and the tribal-dominated areas in the borderlands of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Orissa.

The CPI (Maoist) aims to consolidate its power in this area and establish a Compact Revolutionary Zone to advance the People's War in other parts of India.

--------------------

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[Lenin II]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19, 2007 10:42 pm
These are the Maoists who use terrorist tactics to achieve their means; something condemned by Trotsky wasn't it?

Recently these guys (if I am getting my right Indian Maoist group here) blew up a train killing workers. If these are them, fuck em'.
I doubt Maoists care anything about what Trotsky thinks or condemns. ;)

And by the way, Trotsky wrote an entire book on the uses and neccesarity of the Red Terror. It's quite a good one, too. "Terrorism and Communism"

[dso79]

These are the Maoists who use terrorist tactics to achieve their means; something condemned by Trotsky wasn't it?

Recently these guys (if I am getting my right Indian Maoist group here) blew up a train killing workers. If these are them, fuck em'.

What train bombing are you talking about?

As far as I know the Naxalites don’t attack innocent civilians. They sometimes attack members of a state-sponsored militia called Salwa Judum, who are often referred to as ‘villagers’ in the bourgeois media, but those are neither civilians nor innocent.

[Dros]

Originally posted by [email protected] 19, 2007 10:42 pm
These are the Maoists who use terrorist tactics to achieve their means; something condemned by Trotsky wasn't it?
1.) Not everybody cares what Trotsky said.

2.) There are over 40 Naxalite groups in India.

3.) They are considered "terrorists" by the US government. I hope you don't care about that. I support a lot of "terrorist" orginizations.

4.) Some of them have killed members of a reactionary militia. The press conviniently forgets to mention that part.

5.) what train?

6.) The Naxalite movement is a wonderful thing for the ICM, India, and South Asia.

[MT5678]

Damn Right! My Indian Brothers are in da house! (or in the fields).
They have recognized that change will come from beyond the reformist, pro-business CPI. We must stop BJP and INC "Free-Trade" madness! Those men have prostitutued our country to the West another time, just like the Zamindars at the time of Plassey.

[/emotional rant]